1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to vehicle security. It also relates more specifically to methods and apparatus for preventing hijackers and thieves from gaining control of an airliner or other vehicle and methods and apparatus for responding to attempts by hijackers to obtain control of an airliner or other vehicle.
2. Background
The recent attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Flight 93 have heightened interest in airline security against hijacking. In particular, the realization that commercial airlines can be easily hijacked and used as weapons of war has focused the nation""s attention on airline security issues. The novel feature of the events of Sep. 11, 2001 was that the hijackers did not attempt to influence the pilots to change course. Instead, the hijackers took the controls for their own purposes. This xe2x80x9ccontrol hijackingxe2x80x9d is a new phenomena for aircraft hijacking and innovative methods are required to defend against it.
The American people have already made great strides in combating the control hijacking problem. The passengers of Flight 93 demonstrated the solution of attacking the hijackers to deny them control of the aircraft. Since that event, one attempted cockpit intrusion and one bus hijacking have met with a similar response from American passengers. It is unfortunate that all of the passengers of Flight 93 died demonstrating their solution. Better security systems are needed to bring passengers safely home from such conflicts.
Vehicle security systems of different types are known. Each is focused on either disabling the motive power of the vehicle or limited to broadcasting vehicle location and security information. Disabling the motive power of the vehicle is inappropriate for winged aircraft in flight. Broadcasting the vehicle""s location is useful for aircraft emergencies but, when used alone as a response to a control hijacking, it provides only the grim protection of making the plane easy for Air Force jets to find. The art lacks a vehicle security system which safely disables a hijacker""s or thief""s ability to control a aircraft.
The present invention is directed to preventing a hijacker from gaining sufficient flight control of an airliner to use it to do harm. One embodiment of the invention detects when the pilot is seated and verifies the authorization of the pilot at the controls. If the expected person is not seated at the controls, a processor executes a hijacking response that includes locking out the flight controls, uninterruptibly and autonomously communicating events on-board the aircraft to ground controllers and others, and uninterruptibly and autonomously navigating the aircraft to a safe landing without control inputs from the cockpit. Sensors and processors also detect when a pilot""s seat is empty and interrogate the station for authorization for the seat to be empty. Only the pilot authorized to use that station can provide the empty-seat authorization. If an empty-seat authorization is not received, embodiments of the invention execute a hijacking response. Embodiments of the invention also provide more generally for verifying the identity of a person seeking access to any part of an airliner and for locking out control access, sounding alarms, and making safe the system when unauthorized access is attempted or an unauthorized absence is detected. Other embodiments of the invention relate to securing access to any type of propelled, controllable vehicle, especially those navigated by computer (airliners, cargo ships, trains, spacecraft, elevators, without limitation) by verifying the identity of the operator, locking out the controls if an authorized operator is not present, sounding alarms to those who respond to a control hijacking, and autonomously navigating the vehicle to safety. Embodiments of the invention address control hijacking of aircraft in flight and control hijacking while the plane is on the ground, as well as control hijacking of other vehicles.
Embodiments of the present invention also to increase the confidence of airline passengers in the safety of flying by providing an apparatus that makes commercial airliners unattractive targets for control hijacking by preventing the use of airliners to do harm. Additionally, use of an embodiment of the invention makes a safe landing of the aircraft likely even if the flight crew is dead or taken prisoner and also enhances passenger safety even for non-hijacking emergencies such as impacts with birds, collisions with general aviation aircraft, and the like.